Library's new PCs to speed Internet access

Complaints about the slow display of Web pages prompt Seminole Community Library to buy 12 new computers.

SEMINOLE -- Surfing the Internet at Seminole Community Library soon will get a lot faster, thanks to some new computers.

The city will spend $16,800 for 12 new computers for the library. The public will have access to seven, and the library staff will operate three. The remaining two will be used as servers.

The computers should be installed in four to six weeks, said library director Michael Bryan. "We're expecting a lot of smiling faces when we get them," he said.

Currently, the library provides eight computers with Internet access. The Seminole campus of St. Petersburg Junior College maintains three of those computers. With the purchase, 10 computers will be available for the public.

"It is the one resource that gets the most use," said Rob Geiszler, a reference librarian who oversees the library's computer system.

Geiszler said about 50 people a day get online at the library. Most of the users are seniors, he said.

The computers were state-of-the-art when the library purchased them in 1996, Bryan said. Upgrades were done over the years, but it's time to update and expand, he said.

"They have become very slow in displaying Web pages," Bryan said. "We often had complaints from folks."

Bryan said money was budgeted for new computers. "We tried to extend them as long as we could to be frugal with tax money, but we just can't do that anymore," he said.